Carrot
by jumun
Summary: Despite any earlier fantasies, Sakura highly doubts she can actually get away with strangling Kakashi. Shame. —kakasaku


**CARROT**  
><em>a kakasaku<em>

_..._

"I don't think we can _catch up with __the __sun_, Kakashi."

Hop. One tree branch. Hop. Two tree branches. _Is he ignoring me?_

"Are you listening?" Sakura almost wishes he'd trip. Just a _tad_ vindictive? Yes. Satisfying? _Hell yes._

_Yes, Sakura. I can hear you._ She is just waiting for that response, just something to show that he isn't mindlessly jumping from branch to branch at a speed that has her looking over her shoulder every five damn minutes. _What the hell is he running from? _Her ever helpful mind provides a mental image of the hounds of hell on their heels and she nearly smacks herself in frustration.

_Stop thinking._

Controlling her mind on an empty stomach is so much harder than she will admit to anyone; her mind jumps back and forth between the imaginary dogs and a nice cut of beef before settling in the middle, which just leaves a bad taste in her mouth, because, _no thank you_, she doesn't really like the taste of dog. And, _yes_, she can taste the difference.

Sakura takes another look over her shoulder, _just in case_. Kami, she is hungry and her mind is paying the price for it. A garden variety escort mission that lasted far longer than any garden variety escort mission should, a shortage of snacks and rations, the usual unclean feeling that comes from merciless travel and the absence of a decent body of water to bathe in has driven her to a new level of irritation, of many _many _kinds, and there is no one around but her dearest ex-sensei who does not know how to answer a _damn question_. Grr.

And _that_ was her stomach growling.

"Kakashi, I need to eat." _This isn't another of his tests, is it?_ Sakura mutters a nice, long string of curses under her breath, "I know you'd like to make it home," _vast_ understatement apparently, "but, I will only slow you down- _if you have to carry me_." She puts a little more emphasis on the last part, wondering at just what, _or who_, could be waiting for him ahead.

_Bad train of thought. Stop._

His momentum slows, and for an absurd second, she wonders if he heard her thoughts. _Hush, Sakura, you're losing it._

Hop. Hop. ...Hop. He comes to a complete stop on the next branch, and turns his head toward her just as she pauses on the branch behind him, trying _not to look_ like she's been caught red-handed thinking things she has no business thinking. Sakura crosses her arms over her chest, and settles for just that, because anything more would be pouting and _she will not pout when he's looking._ Grr.

"I'm sorry," he says, and Sakura rolls her eyes, mouthing along with his words; she knows what comes next, "I didn't hear you."

His visible eye goes into that infuriating crinkle, and she swears that if he weren't so damn _cute_ sometimes that she'd wrap her dainty, perfect little hands around his neck and _strangle_ him. Yes, he's cute, because he's far too annoying to be called sexy, though some part of her mind protests strongly, but she still has eyes, ears, and a masochistic streak a mile long that says she can't ever crush on a boy or man that will actually _return_ her poor, misguided affections.

_Oh, the plight of the beautiful._

"But, I hear you're hungry," As if in response to his teasing, her stomach growls _loudly_ and Sakura can't do anything about the redness spreading from the insides of her ears like wildfire except sulk. _Well, if that isn't embarrassing._

"You don't have any rations?" Kakashi asks, eyes twinkling in evident merriment. Sakura comforts herself with picturing a chibi version of herself throttling a chibified scarecrow with a radish for a scarred, masked head. He's taking a moment to play around with her, because she damn well knows he was listening when she was talking, _not whining_, about how she'd had to give Naruto some of her rations_,_ to live off of until he got paid, which left her with a few packs, the last of which she'd seen gone the day before. Dry, tasteless things. Or so said their 'starving' client upon eating it.

"No, I don't." Sakura huffs, tapping her foot, scanning the scarce canopy of leaves over her head. He _would_ forget.

And, then he surprises her.

"Ah, that's right," Nodding, he looks around briefly before pulling his pack from over his shoulder. Dig. Dig. Dig. And he tosses a ration to her, at her, it doesn't matter because it's something edible. She could kiss him. Luckily, she manages to avoid making herself look desperate or _crazy_,_ at least she hopes_, as she jumps onto his branch and thanks him quietly.

"Sakura?"

"Yes?" _Something's wrong here._

"You seem irritable."

_Oh, hell no._

He opens his mouth, ready to ask that dreaded question, the one that by all means he should know the answer to if his nose is _half_ as good as everyone says it is, and all Sakura can think of is Naruto asking that same ignorant question, _"is it that time of the month, Sakura-chan?"_.

Despite any earlier fantasies, she highly doubts she can actually get away with strangling Kakashi. _Shame._

Before he gets the question out, Sakura pulls one hand away from her hard-fought food and presses a single finger against his lips through the thin mask. A universal sign for "_shut the fuck up_".

"No, Kakashi." She feels his lips curve into a smile underneath the fabric, and _something_ flutters around in her stomach as she eyes the ration, willing everything else away before she removes her finger. _Ridiculous._

"Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"We're going to try."

Puzzled, Sakura looks up from the increasingly smaller piece of ration to regard the man next to her. _What could that possibly mean?_ "Try _what?_"

"To catch up with the sun." Kakashi smiles mysteriously, and all that tells her is that they aren't stopping again for a long time.

Hop. Hop. Hop.


End file.
